The Relics of Rome, Part 30
Of singing in the Churche the iudgement of diuerse learned men.
FRāciscus: Franciscus. Petrarcha.Petrarcha in his boke De remediis vtriusque fortunae declareth y• S. Athanasius did vtterly forbyd singyng to be vsed in the churche at seruice tyme, bicause (sayth he) he would put away all lightnesse and vanitie, whiche by the reason of singinge doth oftentymes arise in the mindes both of the singers and of the hearers.
S. Hierome reproued not only ye leud fashions of the singing mē in his time,S. Hierome. but also their maner of singyng, when notwithstanding if the singing vsed in his tyme were cōpared with ye minsed musike that now beareth chief rule in Churches: it myght seme very graue, modest, and tollerable, & ours so light, vayne, madde, fonde, foolishe and fantastical, that Hickscorner himself could not deuise a more wanton and trifling pastime. We ought saith S. Hierome, to sing, to make melody, and to prayse the Lorde rather in minde than in voyce. And this it is that is sayd: Singing and making melodie to the Lord in your hearts. Ephe. 5.Let yonge men, sayth he, heare these thinges, yea, let them heare, whose office it is to singe in the Churche, that they must sing to god, not in the voice but in the heart: neither must their throte be annointed after the manner of Gameplayers with swete ointmēts that in the Churche singyng more fitt for Gameplaces shoulde be heard: but in feare, in worke, in knowledge of the Scriptures ought they to sing vntounto the Lorde. Let the voyce of the synger so sing, that not the voice of him that singeth, but the words that are read, may delight. In epist. ad Ephe.
There is a godly Distichon fathered on S. Hierome, which bicause it pertaineth to our matter, I thinke it conuenient also in this place to alleage.
Nō vox sed votū, nō cordula musica, sed cor:
Non clamans sed amans, cantat in aure dei.
That is to say: Not the voyce, but the desire: not the Musical instrument, but the heart: not the cryer: but the louer singeth in the eare of God.
S. Cipriā.Sainct Cipriane that blessed Martyr sayth, that God is not the hearer of the voyce, but of the heart: neither is he to be admonished with exclamations and outcries, whiche seeth the thoughtes, as the Lorde proueth and sayth: What doe ye thynke wyckednesse in youre heart: And in an other place: All congregations shall knowe, that I am the searcher of the raynes and hearte, that is to say, of the inwarde man. Ciprian in orat. dom.
Sainct Ambrose also sayth:Saint Ambrose. It is with out doubt a great incredulitie and vnfaithfulnesse to thinke thus of ye power of God, that thou canst not be hearde, except thou criest out. Let thy worke cry: let thy faith cry: let thy minde cry: let thy passions and sufferinges cry: let thy bloud, as the bloud of holy Abell, crye,Gene. 4. whereof God sayd to Caim: The voyce of thy brothers bloud crye vntounto me. For he heareth in secrete, whiche maketh cleane in secrete. We can not heare man except he speaketh vntounto vsus: but vntounto god, not words but thoughts doe speake. Lib. de Caim & Abel.
S. Austen would,S. Austen. yt the Comon prayer in Churches should be so distinctly and plainly set forth, yt the people, whiche are present might perfectly vnderstand them, & say Amen. Lib. de Catechis. Rud.
In an other place he declareth, that Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria in his Churche vseth such manner of singing as was in a manner nothing els, than a plaine reading. Lib. confes. 10. cap. 33.
S. Gregorye.S. Gregory did greatly disalowe certaine Deacons at Rome in hys tyme, which, when they ought by their office to hauehave giuen their minde to the preaching of the gospell, and the prouision making for the poore,The office of Deacōs. set all their pleasure on pleasaunt singing, not caryng how they liued afore god, so that with their voyces they might please ye world He was therefore compelled to make a decree, that all suche as be in the holy ministery should from thenceforth vnderunder the payne of excommunicatiō geue their minds no more to singing, but apply themselues to the studies of the holy scriptures, and the reading of the gospell. In Regist. part. 5. cap. 44.
Undoubtedly, sayth S. Gregory, true prayer c… ̄sisteth not in the voyce of the mouth, but in the thoughts of ye heart. For our words do not make the voices the pithier & of ye greater force to come vntounto the most secret eares of God, but our desire and affections.Math. 6. Therefore sayth the Lord in the gospel. Enter into thy closette & sparre the doore. He sparreth the doore and prayeth in hys closet, whiche holdeth his peace with his mouth, & poureth out the affection of his minde in the sight of god aboue. Moral. Lib. 22. cap. 18.
S. Iohn Chrisostome also writeth on this maner:Chrisostome. It is the duty of a deuout mynde to praye to God, not with the voice, or with the soūd of the voice, but with the deuotion of the minde, and with the fayth of the heart. Agayne he saith, the crieng of the voyce is not the worke in prayer vntounto god, whome we knowe that he beholdeth the secretes of the heart, but the crieng of faith, and the deuotion of a godly and pure mind Therfore the beste waye to pray,☜ is to pray with hart minde, spirit, soule and and inwarde man. Hō. 44. de Ioan. & Paul. Festo.
The Emperoure Iustiniane made a law,Iustiniane the Emperour. that all byshops and priestes both in the time of diuine seruice, and also in the ministration of the holy sacramēts should with so open and cleare voyce pronounce all thynges in the tounge which the people vnderstand, that they might therby be the better edified, and also be the more feruently stirred vntounto deuotion and prayinge to God. For sayth he, so doth the holy Apostle teache in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, saying:1. Cor. 14. If thou geue thankes onelyonly in the spirite, that is to say, in an vnknowen tounge, howe shall he that occupyeth the roume of the vnlearned, say. Amen at thy thankes geuinge, seynge he vnderstādeth not what thou sayest. Thou verely geuest thankes well, but ye other is not edified… And again in his Epistle to the Romans he sayth on thys manner:Rom. 10. to beleue with the heart iustifyeth, and to knowledge with the mouthe, maketh a man safe. In consideration whereof, sayth that Godly Emperoure, it is conuenient, that amonge other prayers those thynges also, whiche are sayde in the holy oblation, that is to saye, in the ministration of the Lordes super, or the hloy communiō of the body and bloud of Christ, be vttered & spoken with a loude voice of the deuout Byshops & priest to our Lord Iesu Christ one God with the father and the holy ghost, willyng thē to know, that if they neglect any of these things, they shall not only geue accōpt therof in ye dreadeful iudgement of the great God & our sauiour Iesu Christ, but we also hauing knowledge herof, wil not be cōtent, nor leaue the things vnreuenged. In constitut. Authen. 123.
Guilihelmus Durandus sayth,Durande. that the vse of singing was ordained for carnal and fleshlye men,☜ and not for spirituall and godly minded men. Rat. di. off.
Polidorus …ergilius writeth on thys manner:Polidorus. Vergi…ius. Howe greatly that ordinaūce of singyng brought into the Churche by Pope Damasus and Sainct Ambrose, began euen in those dayes to be profitable Sainct Austen declareth euidentlye in the booke of hys Confessions: where he asketh forgeuenesse of God, bicause he had giuen more heede and better eare to the singing, than to the weighty matter of ye holy wordes. But now adayes saith Polidore, it appereth euidently, yt it is much lesse profitable for our commen wealth,Agaynste the singing men of our tyme. seyng our singers make such a chattering charme in the tēples, that nothyng can be heard, but the voice: and they that are present (they are present so many as are in the Citie) being content with such a noyse as delight their eares, care nothyng at all for the vertue, pithe and strength of the wordes: so that nowe it is come to this point, that with the common sort of people, all the worshippyng of God semeth to be set in these singsters, although generally there is no kynde of people more light, nor more leud. And yet the greater parte of the people for to heare them, boing, bleating and yelling, …locke into the Churches as into a common gameplace. They hire them with money, they cherishe and feede them, yea to be short, they thinke them alone to be the ornamentes and precious iewels of Gods house. &c.
☞Wherefore without doubt, it were better for religion to cast out …f ye churches suche chatteryng and …anglyng …ayes, or els so to appoynt them, that when they sing, they should rather rehearse the songes after the manner of such as reade, than followe the fashion of chatteryng charmers: whiche thyng S. Austen in his aforesayde booke doth witnesse, that S. Athanasius Byshop of Alexandria dyd in hys diocesse, and he commendeth him greatly for it. Lib. 6. de inuent. rerum. Cap. 2.
Cornelius Agrippa writeth of singing in churches on this manner.Cornelius Agrippa. Athanasius dyd forbyd singing in hys Churches, bycause of the vanitye thereof. But Ambrose as one more desyrous of Ceremonyes and pompe, ordayned the vse of singing and makyng melodye in Churches. Austen as a man indifferent betwixt both, in hys booke de confessionibus graunteth, that by this meanes he was in a greate perplexitie and doubt concernyng thys matter. But nowe a dayes Musicke is growne to such and so greate licentiousnesse, that euen at the ministration of ye holy Sacramente all kynde of wanton & leude trifelyng songes with pipyng of Organs hauehave theyr place and course. As for the diuine seruice and common prayer, it is so chaunted, mynsed and mangled of oure costlye hired, curious and nise Musitions (not to instructe the audience withall, nor to stirre vp mens mindes vntounto deuotion but with an whoryshe armonye to tickle theyr eares) that it may iustly seme not to be a noyse made of men, but rather a bleating of brute beastes, while ye children ney discant as it were a sorte of coltes: other bellowe a tenoure as it were a companye of oxen: other barke a counterpoynt as it were a number of dogges: other roare out a treble lyke a sort of bulles: other grunte out a base, as it were a number of hogges, so that a foule euel fauoured noyse is made, but as for the wordes and sentences, and the very matter it selfe is nothing vnderstranded at all, but the authoritye and power of iudgemente is taken awaye both from the eares and from the mynde vtterlye. In Libro de vanitatc scientiarum.
Erasmus. Roterod.Erasmus Roterodamus expresseth hys mynde concernyng the curious manner of synging vsed in Churches, on thys wyse, and sayeth. Whye doth the Churche doubt to followe so worthy an author (Paule)? Yea how dare it be bolde to discent from hym? What other thing is heard in Monasteryes, in Colleges, in Temples almost generally, than a confused noyse of voyces? But in the tyme of Paule there was no singing,☜ but saying onelyonly. Singing was with greate difficultye receaued of them of the latter tyme: and yet such singing, as was none other thing, than a distincte and playne pronunciation, euen suche as we hauehave yet among vsus, when we sounde the Lordes prayer in the holy Canon: and the toung, wherein these thynges were song, the common people dyd then vnderstande and aunswered Amen. But nowe what other thing doth the common people heare, than voyces signifying nothing? And such for the moste part is the pronunciation, yt not somuch as the wordes or voyces are heard: only the sound beateth the eares. Erasmus Rot. in annot 1. Corinth. Cap. 14.